Sunlight Casts a Shadow

12- End

It was a rainy day. Perfect weather for a funeral.

Konohamaru was crying, Iruka was holding him with tears falling silently from his eyes.

Everyone was sad, despite all the dry eyes.

Shikamaru was not crying, surprisingly. But it made sense. He may have known the guy more than others, but he also knew how much they man wouldn't want people to be sad at his funeral. That was just the kind of person he was.

"You shouldn't cry, Konohamaru, you know he wouldn't want you to be sad. He'd want you to celebrate his life, and all his accomplishments. He died saving the village after all."

Konohamaru looked up at the blond who spoke to him, and nodded his head, grateful. He dried his eyes and stood there silently, remembering the hero instead.

"Good job handling the kid," Shikamaru said. "I'm surprised you're not crying just as hard as he is, though."

"I've done enough crying as it is, dattebayo," Naruto replied with a grin. "Besides, if it weren't for the old man, there would probably be a lot more casualties."

"If it weren't for you there would be a lot more casualties too, ya know," Shikamaru reminded the blond.

"Eh, I wasn't that important."

"You woke up from a 3 month coma simply to be thrust into a battle with a fellow jinchūriki. I call that rather important, Naru."

Yes, despite the nurse's depressing words, and Shikamaru's terrifying announcement, Naruto woke up after 3 months, missing the Chūnin exams, but waking up just in time to prevent Gaara (of the Funk)  from wreaking havoc on Konoha. Sasuke and Sakura missed out on competing, but it also meant that Orochimaru wasn't able to give the Duck-ass a hickey.

"Oh by the way, I heard the next Hokage will receive a recommendation for a certain blond to become Chūnin for his remarkable skill immediately after waking up from a coma."

Naruto looked up at Shikamaru in gratitude. "Thank you, Shika. I love you."

Shikamaru gave Naruto a gentle kiss on the lips. "I love you too, Naru."

It was the Sandaime's funeral. The civilians were crying for the loss of their leader, while the shinobi were dry eyed remembering the strength of their Hokage, knowing that he wouldn't have wanted them to mourn him, but to honor him and his will of fire.

When the funeral was over, the Konoha 12 went to Yakiniku-Q for a celebratory meal. Well, 10 of the Konoha 12 went, while Naruto and Shikamaru went to have a small picnic under a clearer sky and watch the clouds roll by.

"Can you believe its not even been a year since I moved in with you?" Naruto started. Even thinking about the situation of living together put a smile on both their faces.

"I know. Except for the reason you moved in, I woudn't change a thing about it, you know?"

The boys finished their meal and laid down on the grass, snuggled up together, and watched the clouds in the sky.

"Thank you for saving me," Naruto whispered in the silence after a few minutes.

"You don't have to thank me. I'm glad I was able to save you. Also, you should probably thank your friend the fox for saving you the second time. If it weren't for him unblocking the door, I probably wouldn't have made it in time. You know?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"And please don't scare me like that again. I may be lazy, but I still worry about you."

"I'm just glad I woke up. You know?"

"I'm glad you woke up too, but you chose a hell of a time to do it."

Oto and Suna had invaded Konoha during the final battle of the Chūnin exam. Gaara (of the Funk) started to run rampant. He was in the middle of a fight with Neji Hyūga, when the long haired male landed a devastating blow on the redhead. It caused the boy to freak out and begin a strange transformation. It was a cue to start the invasion for Suna. Gaara took off, with Neji on his tail, and Kakashi had Sasuke, Sakura, and Shikamaru tail after them to stop Neji from doing anything reckless.

It was after they were sent off, someone entered the field and asked Kakashi what he could do to help.

Kakashi took one look at the boy who just showed up, gave a sharp gasp, and immediately sent him off to help his comrades gain control of Gaara.

The boy caught up relatively quickly, and dropped in, surprising everyone there.

He quickly dispatched with Gaara, somehow managing to summon the Kyūbi without much struggle, and using the giant fox as an anchor to hold Gaara and Shukaku in place. Naruto head-butted Gaara to wake him up finally, causing the giant sand beast to melt and disappear.

That's how Naruto was able to take down a fellow Jinchūriki. Shikamaru showed up right at the tail end of the battle, shocked to see Naruto, not only awake, but out of the his hospital bed and even fighting when only earlier that day the boy had been in a dead coma with doctors contemplating pulling the plug on him.

"So you're saying since I managed to take down my own Jinchūriki brother I'm getting promoted to Chūnin?"

"That's what's going to be brought up to the new Hokage, wherever they're found."

"That's pretty cool. And I didn't even have to participate in the actual exams." Naruto laughed it off, but was still a little worried that his friends wouldn't appreciate the fact that he's being promoted when most of them weren't.

"There is one other person being considered for Chūnin rank. You'll never guess who."

Naruto thought about it for a moment, then said simply, "You, obviously. You used your strategic skill to hold off the enemy during the invasion, while also making sure you were a few steps ahead of your opponent during the finals. Tell me I'm wrong."

"No, you're right." Shikamaru gave Naruto a kiss.

The two boys continued to lay there together as they enjoyed the nice weather, knowing that the time wasn't going to continue forever. They knew that at some point there would be more hardships to come, but they also knew that they would be there for each other, because wherever there is sunlight, there will always be a shadow.

END

A/N: hey all! Hope you enjoyed the ending of this story! I know it was really rather short, and a bit anticlimactic, but I got to the point where I couldn't think of anything else to do! 😨 so instead I improvised. Naruto managed to take down Gaara (of the Funk) without the toad contract, because he didn't have the contract to begin with. Since he was in a coma for the duration of when he would've gotten it, I figured it wouldn't make sense to still give it to him if he hadn't actually earned it yet. Anyway, I hope you all had a fun time reading this story! I know it was rather interesting writing it!

I have another new story that I think will be even longer than this one that I just started on, and I really like the idea behind it. It's an ItaNaru story called "That was You?" It's about Naruto and Itachi being online friends. Itachi is actually a famous voice actor, or VA for a rather famous (read: obscure) anime known as Betrayal Knows My Name. (It's a real anime. You guys should check out the manga and anime for it, its a beautiful reincarnation story, don't be scared off by the Shounen Ai tag on it, since it actually holds no true weight to the storyline)

Naruto has no idea that his online friend is actually the famous actor, yet he wins a contest to go on a date with the man. Itachi knows almost instantly that Naruto is his online friend, but he has his own dilemma go get through: coming to terms with his sexuality. The basic premise for the story actually comes from a real straight Romance novel called "Spoiler Alert" about an actor and an average Jane who fall in love, while also being friends on an online fan fiction site.

Anyway, I think I've talked your ears off enough, so I hope you all look into that story and maybe even the novel and anime! Until next time! じゃね！(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))